Table of Contents-one

Rediscovering the
Lost Body-Connection
within Christian Spirituality
by Edwin M. McMahon, Ph.D.
and Peter A. Campbell, Ph.D.
TABLE OF CONTENTS: Part One
Authors Preface.............................................. xiii
Why This Book?...............................................xvi
•An Historic Interchange xviii
•Living a New Christian Paradigm xxiv
• Reinventing a More Ancient Way of Knowing for Today’s World xxviii
•Remarkable Pieces of Interdisciplinary Research will Reveal More of the Lost Body-Connection Within Christian Spiritualityxxxii
•A Suggested Exercise to Help You Acquire the Habit of Noticing and Nurturing Your Important Feelings After Reading These Pages xxxv
•A Few Further Suggestions for Using This Workbook xxxvi
•Personal Notes xi

A First Body-Learning

— NOTICING —

Changing The Relationship

To Your Own Body By Noticing Your Feelings And How You Treat Them

Chapter 1

Why Pay Attention to Feelings? ...............................................................................1

•The Hawk Story 1
•Six Fundamentals About Body-Knowing and Learning 4
•Some Basics About Developing the Habit of Noticing and Nurturing Your Important Feelings 6
•Inviting Children to Listen to All Their Important Feelings 8
•Personal Notes 10

Chapter 2

An Exercise • “What Would It Have Felt Like If ... ?”.............................................11

•Personal Notes 15

Chapter 3

A Story for the Hiding Child in All of Us...................................................................17

•An Introduction to Transformational Knowing 17
•The Little Bird Who Found Herself - A Tale for Both Children and Adults 21
•An Exercise After Reading, “The Little Bird Story” 25
•Personal Notes 26

Chapter 4

Journeying into Your Own Inner World of Felt-Sensing.....................................27

• Entering into and Through Your Feelings 29
• How Symbols Work 32
• Symbol as Metaphor 33
•Personal Notes 36

Chapter 5

Easing into Steps that will Help You Develop a Caring Relationship

with Your Body’s Ordinary Physical and Emotional Discomforts........................37

• An Exercise 37
• Why Develop These Steps as a Habit 39
• Relevance for Christian Faith 41
• Personal Notes 44

Chapter 6

The Master Key for Opening Up a Potential You Already Possess

for Taking Care of Your Difficult Feelings............................................................................45

• Don’t Throw the Baby Out With the Dirty Bath Water 47
• The Paradox Hidden Within a New Perspective 48
• Approaches that Get Us Off Track 49
• Personal Notes 52

Chapter 7

A New BioSpiritual Way of Loving, Guided by Your Affection Teacher

Through, “... the Eyes of your Heart” (Ephesians 1: 18)..............................................53

• Exploring Untapped Potential Within Your Capacity for Affection 54
• An Affection Teacher Exercise 55
• Extending the Exercise 57
• Learning From Your Affection Teacher 57
• Lessons From My Grandmother’s Lap 59
• Ed’s Story of Yet Another Affection Teacher that may Call Forth the Body-Feel of
One in Your Own Life 64
• Decades Later an Affection Teacher Returns 67
• A Brief Summary: Why are We Asking You to Go Into Your Own
Experience of “Affection Teachers?” 70
•Exercise: Time to Recall an Affection Teacher of Your Own 71
•Personal Notes 72

Chapter 8

Daily Check-In Exercises for Noticing and Nurturing Your Important Feelings

and Helping Others to Do the Same.................................................................................................73

• Some Helpful Guides for Companioning Yourself and Others 73
• The Basics of a Personal Check-In 75
• If You Get Stuck 77
• Helping Children Develop the Habit of “Noticing” and “Nurturing” Their Important Feelings 78
• Suggestions for Developing in Very Young Children the Habit of a “Caring Presence” for Their
Important Feelings 80
• Some Suggestions for Companioning 81
• Personal Notes 87

Chapter 9

Ancient and Modern Intimations of a Larger Body

—But How Do We Connect?....................................................................................................................89

• Children Teach Us to Decipher the Hidden Language of God 89
• Building the Body-Bridge of Christian Faith 91
• A Curious Parallel Within the Structure of Scientiﬁc Revolutions 93
• Reading Through the Eyes of Your Body-Knowing 96
• Body, Flesh and Spirit in the Writings of St. Paul 96
• Paul’s Creative Efforts to Show His Experience of Living Within the Body of the Whole Christ 100
• Going Shopping for Inside Metaphors Within the Mystery of Your Body’s Knowing 105
• Membranes Within the Body of Christ 108
• The Miracle of Yet-To-Be Discovered Blessings 109
• Ed’s Suggestion for a Simple Morning Exercise 111
• Personal Notes 115

A Second Body-Learning

— NURTURING —

Growing Into An Inside, Physical Presence

That Helps You Care For The Burden And Pain

Your Body Carries Around Difﬁcult Feelings

When You Make Them Into Enemies

A Third Body-Learning

BALANCING THE DIFFERENCE

— BETWEEN WHAT YOUR HEAD KNOWS ABOUT —

THE BODY OF THE WHOLE CHRIST AND HOW YOUR BODY FEELS IT

Developing the Habit of Noticing and Nurturing

Your Felt-Senses Builds this Missing Body-Connection. Christians Need to Build a Felt Bridge Between What Their Minds Can Grasp Intellectually

About a Teaching, Like St. Paul’s Meaning of “in Christ,” and How Their Body Actually Experiences This Same Teaching Through the Gift of Their Living Faith. This Habit Opens the Door of Christian Awareness

into the Wider, Gifting World of Grace and Spirit in the Body of the Whole Christ, so that Even Difﬁcult Feelings Become an Integral Part, not an Obstacle on Your Journey into God.